However, unless you are the type of racing fan who baulks at the idea of watching jump racing, then it won't be long before you can allow the images of Kauto Star, Denman and Master Minded to replace the memory of Sea The Stars stretching away from his Arc rivals.

So I thought this may be a good time to highlight 10 horses to follow for the next few months - I can hear trainers around the country groaning in dreaded anticipation that one of their charges may end up in my list.

The six-year-old had won a Larkhill point-to-point before joining the Ditcheat trainer and caused something of a surprise to connections when he won a bumper at Chepstow.

Stepped up to a trip just shy of three miles and faced with hurdles in public for the first time at Fontwell, he bolted up.

It is apparent to anyone watching that he has enormous potential particularly when he is sent over fences.

He ran okay in the Silver Trophy over the smaller obstacles on his seasonal debut but I reckon when he goes chasing we'll see him in his best light.

Behind Alfie Sherrin at Chepstow was the grey Bakbenscher who was hampered and shuffled to the back of the field before staying on past a few beaten horses, which looked an ideal comeback run considering he was far from fit for his reappearance.

He has been carefully handled by trainer Alan King who missed last season's festivals as he thought the six-year-old was not ready mentally. However he is now ready to go over fences and could prove a star.

Crack Away Jack looked a Champion Hurdle candidate after he won on his return to action at Chepstow 12 months ago.

The handsome chestnut rounded off his campaign with an excellent fourth to Punjabi at the Cheltenham Festival.

His trainer Emma Lavelle plans to send him over fences with the Arkle his ultimate target. I watched this horse run at Ascot last November and was convinced then that he should be chasing and was surprised that he finished just two lengths off the best hurdlers around in the Champion.

He's only five and I believe that he will be the leading two-mile novice of the season.

I'm looking forward to seeing Paul Nicholls' Ghizao go over hurdles this season.

Owned jointly by David Johnson and Andy Stewart, this German-bred horse sluiced home by 24 lengths in a bumper at Newton Abbot in August and though he beat little of consequence, the five-year-old has the look of a potentially decent hurdler.

One of my biggest disappointments at Cheltenham last March was a crumpled ante-post voucher for the Champion Hurdle with the name of Hurricane Fly.

In fairness, he may not have even run in that race anyway but injury prevented an appearance at the Festival.

He's only been beaten once since joining Willie Mullins' team in Ireland from France where he was speedy enough to beat Champion Stakes winner Literato over a mile on the flat.

His last two wins were sensational and his form is rock solid. He smashed Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Go Native twice last term and there is nothing in the established cast of two-milers that should concern connections.

My one proviso is that his sire is Montjeu and some of his progeny can go the wrong way after initial promise. However, barring that one apprehension, I expect Hurricane Fly to blitz his hurdling rivals all season long. Mullins is on record as saying that this year he has his best team of horses.

So I thought it worth including one other from his County Carlow stable. I'm going for the once-raced Lios A Choill who won a Fairyhouse bumper stylishly last February.

The five-year-old has clearly inherited some serious ability and can hopefully emulate some of the achievements of his half sister, Liss A Paoraigh, who was a top class racemare.

My staying hurdler to follow this year is Henry Daly's Mighty Man. Clearly Big Buck's is the outstanding performer in this category and is the obvious choice. However, I thought I'd give the courageous Mighty Man one more chance to prove that he is one of the best hurdlers over the longer trips that we have seen.

Having played second fiddle to the late Inglis Drever before injury seemingly forced him into retirement, the nine-year-old made a fine return to racing after two years off to finish fifth in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Mighty Man then made Big Buck's pull out all the stops at Aintree, where a mistake at the last may have proved costly. At his age and after all his problems the odds are against him topping his division, but his determination and will to win could help him go close in some of the championship races.

Now, anyone who has seen or heard what I have said about staying chasers will know that I would like to be considered one of Kauto Star's biggest fans and I fully expect the champ to prove the top dog once again this season.

However I wanted to find a serious challenger to put on my list and i have gone for a fairly obvious one - Notre Pere.
This huge eight-year-old announced himself on these shores with an easy win in the Welsh National at Chepstow and improved with every run subsequently and will return this year as Ireland's main hope of dethroning the mighty Kauto Star at Cheltenham next March.

Another fairly unexposed horse on my list is Nicky Henderson's Quantitativeeasing who has had just the one run last April in Ireland.

The full brother to a former top-class hurdler, Asian Maze, cruised to a comfortable success at Punchestown and looked a horse of immense potential. He will have the services of Tony McCoy this season as he will race in the colours of JP McManus and is definitely a novice hurdler to follow.

Howard Johnson's Tidal Bay began his campaign 12 months ago as one of the credible challengers to Kauto Star, Denman and Master Minded. However, after finishing second in the Tingle Creek before Christmas, things began to go downhill and he seemed to have a problem.

He has undergone a 'hobday' operation during the summer to help his breathing and following an encouraging comeback behind Monets Garden at Aintree in the Old Roan Chase, he can go on from there.

So there we have it - 10 horses to either follow or forget! Let me know what horses you think may be worth following this season and good luck.

During the World Snooker Championships we are live on air for so many hours that it's almost impossible to avoid any errors for the duration of the event.

At the end of each day I get back to my hotel room and think about all the things I have done wrong or things I could have done better. Perhaps I should simply forget them and move on. I'm not sure. But I think its only human to assess yourself. In fact, sometimes it happens sub-consciously.

Fortunately I am working with an excellent production team who do all they can to ensure that everything is in place for as little to go wrong as possible and they instill confidence in you with their words of encouragement.

But sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we are doing and so absorbed in our own little worlds that we forget to appreciate the privileges of the job.

I am at the greatest snooker tournament in the world and I get to sit and chat with legends such as John Parrott and Steve Davis every day. It sometimes seems surreal to be watching the action as Stephen Hendry, Ronnie et al are strutting their stuff on the tables while sharing a coffee with Steve and John in the studio.

I have to keep reminding myself just how lucky I am to be in this position as it can be tempting to get carried away with what I am doing and the self importance of it all.

Luckily the amount of ribbing that goes on between us keeps our feet firmly on the ground and there are enough voices in the production 'gallery' taking the mickey to also ensure that we never take ourselves too seriously.

A few of us went out for dinner together last night and it was almost like being back at school again as our director, Clare Michel, and John Parrott engaged in trying to see who could stuff more ice down each others tops without the other noticing.

I reckon Clare had more success as John was distracted by the large glass of red wine that had been inadvertently spilt down his shirt. Typically JP took it all in good heart, though is currently is his room with bottle of Vanish and the sniffles.

Having embarrassed myself with a poor gag in front of Stephen Hendry last Friday, I did it again while having breakfast with Dennis Taylor. I thought I'd impress the 1985 World Champion by reminding him of the 'Big Break' theme tune - you all remember it, right - "I'm gonna be snookering you, snookering you, snookering you tonight" etc.

It's amazing how polite these snooker guys are.

Anyway the tournament itself is just coming to the boil as we approach the second round. I thought my tip Mark Selby looked good in his first round win over Ricky Walden and am keeping my fingers crossed that he meets Ronnie in the semis - that would be some match.

As I have mentioned before no matter what we all say and do the most important ingredient in the success of this tournament is the quality of the snooker and nearly all the major protaganists are still involved.

The players know that they can't afford to make too many mistakes at this stage.

One of our programme producers, Ali Witkover, took time out to give me the grand tour of the famous Crucible as this is my first time at the hallowed venue.

I stood speechless in between the two tables in the main arena as the final nuts and bolts were being screwed in before I was taken to our studio, which is just a long pot away from the practice tables where seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry was fine tuning his game - as he drilled a red in from distance I made a terrible gag about him being a good bet for the tournament - he laughed politely.

For any sport, bar football, the chance to showcase just what makes it so special is rare in these days of increasing competition for terrestrial airtime and this is snooker's big moment.

The defending champion and the foremost player of the modern generation, Ronnie O'Sullivan, suggested earlier this year that snooker is 'dying', but I think the Rocket himself recognises that he has a huge role to play to prevent that.

Despite what some marketing people may say, the very essence of what makes a sport attractive is the action it provides and the men and women who provide it.

Watching the Masters last Sunday was pure joy with Phil Mickelson and Tiger at the heart of an enthralling final day's play. We all remember last year's Wimbledon final as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer both played like the champions that they are.

Perhaps golf and tennis, like football, are also exempt from needing to sell itself to the general public but both sports would have received an enormous boost as their top talents delivered on the big occasion - or at least when most people were watching.

Is it unreasonable to expect or indeed hope that Ronnie may find himself in the final against the enormously gifted number two seed Stephen Maguire and both players find it within themselves to produce one of those showdowns that people still remember decades later?

In fairness, there are a number of players who may not have all the magic of Ronnie but would light up any event if they were on song. Mark Selby and Ali Carter are two players who could arguably get to the final and that would be something worth tuning in for.

Personally I reckon Selby has a huge chance. Finalist here two years ago, he has shown good form as recently as January when he finished runner-up to Ronnie at The Masters and though he exited in the second round of the China Open last time out he is a player who always seem to be full of confidence.

Indeed I wish I had some of that confidence as I approach my first time presenting this particular event. My honest appraisal of why I am nervous is that though I have always enjoyed watching and following snooker and know about the exploits of the leading players I am not as comfortable as I would be on horse racing or cricket.

The groundwork for those sports were done as a child whereas I came to snooker a bit later. I am going to be out of my comfort zone, but it is a challenge I am looking forward to and naturally I hope my preparation pays off and I don't look like a complete fool.

For those of you wondering why I am up in Sheffield, it is because the lovely Hazel Irvine has only recently given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Gina, so is understandably unavailable.

I phoned Hazel for some advice on what lies in store for me for the next couple of weeks and she suggested that I sleep whenever I get the chance, I should eat healthily and get some exercise when I can. Hmmmm......

For me, its appeal is down to a combination of factors. I love the fact that, for just a few minutes, the nation's attention is tuned into the sport that I love and we on the BBC can showcase just how thrilling racing really is.

I also appreciate that the race poses a unique test to horse and rider. It really does exposes the frailties of exhausted competitors.

At some point in the race's history, since the first running in 1839, it became an event we couldn't let pass without having a flutter. That has given us an added interest in and attachment to the race.

Nowadays, with 10m people watching in Britain and at least 400m worldwide, the National is the most gambled-on horse race on the planet. Despite the credit crunch, UK bookmakers are estimating turnover approaching £300m on Saturday.

Some of you may have already picked your horse for the Aintree showpiece, others may be relying on the luck of the draw in the office sweepstake, while one or two shrewdies will wait until the last possible moment before deciding where their investment goes.

I have to confess that this is a race I have not enjoyed enormous success in as a punter. I can just about recall my last moment of selfish excitement. It came in 1997 when Lord Gyllene took the rescheduled race on a Monday after the original running was postponed because of a bomb scare. I pocketed £70 in the process.

But as anyone who likes to bet will tell you, there is always a belief that the corner is about to be turned. I certainly reckon this is the year I will make a return to the winner's enclosure. More of that later.

As the Grand National approaches, my job with the BBC gives me the chance to see some of the competitors at close quarters.

Normally, this means seeing a horse and rider, under the instructions of their trainer, being put through their final paces on the gallops, but this year has been very very different.

About a week ago, I interviewed Grand National-winning jockey Graham Lee at his home in Middlesborough. Graham missed last year's race after his jaw was smashed to pieces in a horrible fall, but he's back and fingers crossed will be riding Kilbeggan Blade on Saturday.

I've also visited the connections of My Will, the race's current favourite. But it wasn't his jockey, Ruby Walsh, who has the best record in the race, nor his champion trainer, Paul Nicholls, who has a forgettable record in the race.

Instead, I spoke to the horse's owners, the Stewart family, made up of dad Andy, mum Judy and brothers Paul and Mark.

Last December, Paul had a snowboarding accident that left him paralysed from the waist down. Since then, he's demonstrated remarkable fortitude, and it will be worth watching Saturday's coverage on the BBC just to witness the inspirational way he has responded to the challenge of being in a wheelchair, the possibility of never walking again, and how racing has helped him find the strength to keep moving forward.

I certainly hope My Will wins the world's greatest race on Saturday. I think he's the best horse at the weights after his excellent prep run in the Gold Cup, and I'll be placing my Grand National stakes on him and Ruby.

In the meantime, I'd love to know what you find fascinating about the Grand National, what your favourite race is, and who you think might win this year.